


I'll be there

by Hellokaelyn



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, slight talk of past child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 03:10:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18241193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hellokaelyn/pseuds/Hellokaelyn
Summary: Nick and Ellie's fifteen year old son has his first crush.It seems the Torres men have a type.





	I'll be there

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic at the end of 16x11 Nick does confess his feelings, Ellie breaks it off with Boyd, and they spend the night together resulting in Ellie getting pregnant. It's not needed to know for this fic at all but just for anyone who's curious.

Laughter filled the living room in the Torres household that Wednesday afternoon. Nick and Ellie sat cuddled together on one of the armchairs, Tim relaxed on the couch, and Morgan was spread out sideways along the other armchair still pouting as she got in trouble in school and therefore wasn’t allowed to go with Johnny and their friends on a trip, and also wasn’t allowed to go with Delilah to Chicago to visit the family as both Tim and Delilah knew her grandmother would spoil her rotten when she was supposed to be grounded.

They all turned their heads to see Nick and Ellie’s fifteen year old son Mason come tearing down the stairs.

“You didn’t catch something on fire again did you?” Ellie said with a groan, getting ready to get up making Nick pout.

“No!” Mason scoffed. “That only happened three times, okay!”

“Three times too many.” She mumbled, settling back down next to Nick who didn’t hesitate to pull her back against him. 

“Then what in the hell are you doing?” Nick asked, raising an eyebrow as he dropped to the floor to look under the couch.

“My biology book!” Mason said, his voice a little muffled as he crawled half under the couch having to make Tim move his legs out of the way.

Morgan sat up from the chair, interest clear on her face.

“It’s a Wednesday afternoon, what do you suddenly need your biology book for?” Tim said, moving his legs back to their spot once Mason crawled out.

“Elaina is coming over to study!” 

Ellie and Nick exchanged a look. 

“And you weren’t gonna tell us anything?” Nick asked with a chuckle. 

Mason stopped and looked at his parents. “Right..probably should have said something.”

Morgan suddenly snickered from her seat. “His mind was probably a little busy.”

He spun around glaring at her. “Shut up.”

“Oooo I’m scared.” 

Giving a huff, Mason mumbled something about checking the kitchen.

All three adult eyes turned to Morgan.

“What was that about?” Ellie asked, eyebrow raised.

Morgan grinned. “Mason has a crush on Elaina.” She said with a shrug. “You’ll see, it’s pretty obvious.”

“Aww Nick!” Ellie cooed. “Our baby has his first crush!”

“What? He had a crush on that girl-”

“He was six! He’s a teenager now!”

“Damn we’re getting old.”

Ellie smacked him. “I’m not  _ old _ !”

“Really? Is that a gray hair I see-”

“Nick!” She screeched, hands flying to her hair. 

Nick threw his head back and laughed. Ellie leaned forward with a smirk as if inspecting his hair. “Speak for yourself Nick, I see a patch of gray growing in right ther-”

“What!” He shouted, voice high pitched as he shot up running to the mirror resting on the fireplace.

Ellie, Tim, and Morgan laughed making him spin around with a narrowed glare. 

“That was  _ cruel _ Ellie!”

“Oh relax.” Ellie snickered. “You’re still hot to me.” She teased. 

Tim gagged from his seat making Ellie roll her eyes.

“We’ve been married for thirteen years Tim, time to get over it.” 

“You’re like my sister Ellie, I’ll  _ never _ be over it.” 

As the doorbell rang and Mason ran to answer it before any of them could, Nick leaned down to whisper in Ellie’s ear. 

“Do I really have gray hair?”

She laughed behind her hand.

Attention turned to Mason walking back into view with a girl clutching a textbook and notebook.

She was wearing a shirt that seemed to be two sizes too big, skinny jeans, converses, slightly frizzy long blonde hair that was pulled into a messy ponytail, and black glasses that she reached up to push upward on her nose. 

“Um-” Mason cleared his throat. “Elaina this is my parents-” He pointed to Nick and Ellie. “-and this is Morgan’s dad. Guys this is Elaina, she’s in all of my classes.”

“Nice to meet you Elaina.” Ellie said warmly. “You can just call us Ellie and Nick.”

Nick nodded, giving a smile.

They all except Morgan watched with interest as Elaina ducked her head shyly looking at Mason who smiled encouragingly at her. 

Elaina turned to them and smiled a small smile. “H-Hi, n-nice t-to m-meet y-you.”

Her voice was small and childlike. 

Ellie, Nick, and Tim exchanged a look none of the teenagers noticed. They were all wondering if Elaina’s stutter was from nervousness or something else.

“Hi Elaina!” Morgan said loudly, waving her arms around frantically like she wasn’t noticeable.

Elaina cracked a grin. “H-Hey M-Morgan.”

Mason gave Morgan a ‘watch yourself’ look before turning to the girl next to him. “How about we go study outside at the picnic table? It’s finally nice enough outside where you can sit outside with just a jacket and not freeze.”

“I-I f-forgot m-my s-sweater.” Elaina said a little sheepishly, ducking her head once more. 

He looked her over, sighing. “You  _ always _ forget a jacket.” Mason reached over to the hooks right beside him on the wall and took one of his jackets off, putting it around Elaina who slipped her arms into it careful not to drop the things in her hands. Mason furrowed his eyebrows as he didn’t even hesitate to zipper the jacket up like he had done it plenty of times before. “This is why you get sick a lot, especially when the weather keeps changing from nice to cold.”

Ellie and Nick gave each other an amused look at their son being such a mother hen. 

“S-Sorry.” She whispered. 

“Just try to remember next time, okay? You were sick for almost a month last time!” 

His jacket seemed to swim on her small body, and it wasn’t hard to miss the way her cheeks were colored pink or the way she reached to push her glasses up but really just did it to smell his jacket. Only Mason missed the action. 

“Right so uh-” Mason gestured towards the back of the house where the patio doors leading to the backyard were. “We’re gonna go study now.” 

He didn’t wait for them to say anything as he grabbed onto Elaina’s wrist, pulling her with him. She gave them a small wave before he pulled her away.

The three adults right away turned to Morgan who was bouncing on the balls of her feet with a grin.

“Obvious as hell, right?”

“Language.” Tim muttered making Morgan roll her eyes, hell was  _ so _ not a swear word. 

“I think I feel a cavity coming in after watching them.” Nick mumbled, Ellie rolled her eyes at her husband. 

“It was cute! I’ve never seen Mason so...worried and caring about someone.”

“They aren’t  _ really _ studying you know.” Morgan said.

“What do you mean?” Ellie asked. 

“They use ‘studying biology’ as a cover.” Morgan shrugged. “Mason is really trying to help her with her stutter.” She rolled her eyes at the confused look they gave her. “Elaina has had a...rough life before moving here right before school started.”

“I don’t exactly feel right talking about her behind her back like this but-” Ellie bit her lip. “I’m so curious!”

Nick chuckled. “I gotta admit, I am too.” Tim also nodded.

“Elaina was badly bullied in school but her home life wasn’t any better, eventually social services was called and Elaina right before school started got sent to live with her aunt who she hadn’t seen since she was little. She’s now finally in a safe home and the kids at school aren’t cruel so no one bullies her there. Mason became friends with her not long after school started since as he said they have every class together, Mason is her first friend.”

Ellie frowned at the thought of the shy small girl she just met getting bullied. Nick rubbed his hand along her back knowing what she was thinking. 

“And her stutter? Was she born with it or?” Tim asked, a little hesitantly. 

Morgan shook her head. “There was an incident at school, the bullies took it too far and damaged her vocal chords. Her doctor told her with speech therapy she could have a good chance of speaking again without the stutter, but her medical doesn’t cover it and it’s too expensive for her aunt to pay for otherwise. Elaina asked Mason to help her, she’s not expecting it to work but she wants to try.”

Her phone then rang, Johnny’s name flashing.

“Go ahead.” Tim said. Morgan gave an excited squeal, giving her dad a kiss on the cheek before darting into the kitchen. 

“Poor girl.” Ellie sighed, moving to the window in the living room overlooking the backyard. Nick and Tim followed her.

Mason and Elaina sat side by side at the picnic table, looking as if they  _ were _ studying biology but knowing what they knew all three of them could tell they weren’t. Elaina had a frustrated look on her face as she spoke, but then her face quickly changed to a grin. Mason threw his arms up, his ‘whoop’ being heard even to them as he held his hands out for a high five, Elaina smiled brightly as she smacked the palms her hands against his. 

Tim suddenly chuckled behind them.

“What?” Nick asked a little cautiously seeing Tim’s smirk.

“You know..it seems the Torres men have a type.” He said with a snicker.

“The hell you talking about Tim?” 

“Well let’s see Nick.” Tim crossed his arms with a grin. “Blonde, possibly a little nerdy, bullied, we know from her brother’s that Ellie was shy and wore clothes a little too big when she was a teenager, and then there’s the little detail of the whole beginning with ‘El’ in their names-”

“Okay okay Tim!” Nick quickly said. “We got it!” 

Ellie laughed. “He does have a small point, seems our son takes after you Nick.” She teased.

Nick huffed. “God you two are annoying.”

“Aw is my old man mad.” Ellie said with a teasing pout, wrapping her arms around him.

Nick groaned and tried removing her arms without much effort. “I’m not  _ old _ !”

“Hey you said it yourself earlier, we’re getting old-”

“Okay I take it back,  _ Tim _ is getting old, he’s older than us anyway!”

“Hey don’t bring me into this! At least  _ I _ don’t have gray hair!”

“Ellie!” Nick practically screeched. “I  _ do  _ have gray hair?!”

“He’s joking Nick, calm down!” Ellie laughed, highly amused about his freak out about gray hair.

“I’m buying hair dye tomorrow.”

“Nick, you’re not going gray!”

* * *

Outside, the two teens decided to take a break. They figured out it was better to take little breaks between, which is why Mason stared at Elaina from the corner of his eye as she doodled in her notebook. 

Mason wasn’t stupid no matter what Morgan teased, he could point out similarities between his mom and Elaina which at first freaked him out but now he liked it. Sure it may be a little  _ weird _ to some people but his mom was a great person and Mason knew she loved his dad unconditionally..was it a little wrong of him to want that in the future? 

He also knew he was a little different to the other guys at school. While they were interested in the cheerleader wearing dresses and tight clothes type, Mason’s eyes had never even wandered to them and instead had been focused on Elaina since he first saw her walk into homeroom with her head down as she quickly sank into the seat beside him. 

“M-Mason.”

Snapping out of his thoughts, he felt his cheeks heat when he realized he had been so lost in his thoughts his staring had turned obvious, and she had noticed.

“A-Are y-you o-okay?”

“I’m fine! Just uh spaced out.”

She gave him a small smile. “A-Are y-you h-hungry?”

“What? Why?”

“Y-You a-always s-space o-out w-when y-you’re h-hungry.”

He tried to hide his grin. It was proof that she paid attention. 

“I mean..I could go for a little snack..”

Elaina giggled. “N-Not s-surprised y-you e-eat a-alot.”

“I do  _ not _ !”

She stuck her tongue out making him laugh softly. 

“So snack it is!” 

He stood up, getting ready to walk around the table but stopped when she wasn’t getting up to follow. “What’s up?”

Elaina looked nervously towards the house. 

“My parents are really nice, I promise.” He told her, realizing what her hesitation was about. “But how about I go grab us some snacks and we can eat them out here.”

She smiled brightly at him making him smile in return.

“T-Thank y-you.”

Mason cleared his throat, ducking his head as he shrugged. “No problem, be right back!”

Elaina watched him go, smile still on her face as she went back to her doodling humming a little tune under her breath. 

Mason looked back before he opened the patio doors. One day he’d get the courage, one day.

“Yo mom, do we have any snacks!” He shouted as he opened the door.

“Mason Clayton Torres!” Her voice yelled from the living room. “That’s not how you ask!” 

“Of course we have snacks!” His dad shouted back. “You’re mom lives in this house doesn’t she-”

Mason shook his head with a chuckle as he heard a smack followed by his dad’s yelp. 

He walked into the kitchen to see Morgan talking on her phone. She looked up as he came in, giving him a thumbs up. Mason huffed and rolled his eyes. 

Opening the cabinet he mumbled a silent ‘yes!’ to himself. They had white cheddar Cheez-Its, Elaina’s favorite. Just grabbing the whole box, he went back outside.

Elaina perked up when she spotted what he brought. 

Mason watched her only take handful that she ate quickly, but didn’t grab anymore even when she kept looking longingly at the box.

“You can take as much as you want.” He told her. 

She shook her head. “I-I r-really s-shouldn’t.”

His stomach twisted painfully like it always did when she did this. 

“Elaina, I promise it’s fine.” He grabbed her hands cupping them together as he poured a handful into her hands. 

One day he’d get her out of the mindset all those assholes had put her into. Her school bullies calling her names whenever she ate a little more than the other girls at lunch, her parents hitting her when she tried to eat more than they let her. 

Elaina still had broken pieces not yet glued back together, but Mason knew she’d get there in time and he’d be right there even after. 

He’d be there for it all. 


End file.
